The task of cleaning and scrubbing is a day-to-day chore which continues to defy solution. No one has found a completely satisfactory tool. All scrubbing implements have some shortcomings. One of the most troublesome difficulties is that hand held commercially available scrubbing tools frequently are so poorly designed that they deteriorate in a short period of time or frequently cannot take heavy duty use without coming apart (e.g., the ordinary straw broom or synthetic kitchen sponge). If a tool is built strong enough for long service, it is all too often limited to a single purpose or task (e.g., a stainless steel wire brush). Another difficulty is that the portion of the tool which physically comes into contact with the surface to be cleaned (i.e., the working end or head of the tool) is usually not made to be replaced A replaceable element is quite useful to limit the carryover or spread of removed dirt or foreign matter to another object. Similarly, the means by which replacement elements are attached is often complex and requires the use of one or more small easy to loose threaded fasteners or special purpose connectors. Lastly, but by no means least, is the problem of the manner in which the human interfaces with the tool. Sometimes a long handle is useful; other times such a handle interferes with the cleaning task (e.g., cleaning containers with curved or flared sides or corners), or prevents the direct application of force to the surface to be cleaned.
Thus, there is a long felt need for improvements in the field of hand held cleaning brushes. Such a tool should be economical to manufacture, long lasting, and inexpensive. It should have one or more replaceable cleaning elements which are easy to remove and install and which do not fall apart. It should be one which can be easily gripped and one which has versatility as to its use and the surfaces which may be cleaned. It should also be one whose parts can be easily changed and one to which one or more attachments can be added. Such an implement will gain wide acceptance in the market place by virtue of its performance alone.